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Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

Congrats to him. He deserves this opportunity with all of the success he has had, particularly the 9-3 record last year. I wish him the best. Ironically, we will face his Cardinals next season out in Arizona.

I hate that Luck has to get used to a new coordinator in his second season though. Hopefully whoever we get can stay a few years. I wonder who it will be? Whisenhunt is going to the Chargers and Norv Turner is going to the Browns. Wonder if those two wish they would have waited a bit now? Regardless, I'm sure the cream of the crop of available candidates will want to interview here since we are a great organization with a stud young quarterback.

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

Hopefully he'll get a standing ovation when they visit LOS next season...

They don't actually. For whatever reason, we play Seattle here and Arizona on the road, even though that's how it was in 2009. Logically though, we should be hosting Arizona while going to Seattle. That's not how it is though. It goes against the pattern for whatever reason.

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

I really hope the Colts don't just replace him with Christensen. I wanted Turner but it's too late for that. Perhaps Tom Moore can come back or maybe they can bring in Pep Hamilton. I just hope whoever they bring in is open to using the tight ends a little more and likes to use occasional quick developing routes so Luck doesn't have to hold on to the ball all day.

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

I will be the first to admit that I questioned the hiring of Arians however you can't argue with the results. It is really that simple.

Arians won't be coaching much longer. He is what? 67? Certainly near the end of his career so it is really nice to see him fulfill his dream of becoming an NFL head coach. He deserves this opportunity as much as anyone. Best of luck to him.

It is interesting that one of the stamples of the previous era in Colts football was stability and this off season we have already experienced the departure of 2 key people in Tom Telesco and Bruce Arians. However Jimmy Raye was an excellent hire to replace Tom and I am confident the Colts will found the right person to replace Bruce.

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

I really hope the Colts don't just replace him with Christensen. I wanted Turner but it's too late for that. Perhaps Tom Moore can come back or maybe they can bring in Pep Hamilton. I just hope whoever they bring in is open to using the tight ends a little more and likes to use occasional quick developing routes so Luck doesn't have to hold on to the ball all day.

Yeah I don't want Christensen either. It's nothing against him really, but I just like how hiring from the outside worked out this year. It's a shame that Whisenhunt and Turner took jobs before this news broke. Surely our shinny new QB would have made us more desirable to Turner than the Browns.

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

Congrats to coach Arians. I loved his fire and intensity on the sidelines. He'll definitely be a shot in the arm for that Arizona franchise.

As for the colts, I wouldn't mind Marty Mornhinweg or Cam Cameron.

I really hope we get a coach who looks to utilize the TE and RB's more. I love the aggressive, down the field approach, but I'd like to see a little more diversity within our offense next year as Luck grows into the position.

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

Congrats to coach Arians. I loved his fire and intensity on the sidelines. He'll definitely be a shot in the arm for that Arizona franchise.

As for the colts, I wouldn't mind Marty Mornhinweg or Cam Cameron.

I really hope we get a coach who looks to utilize the TE and RB's more. I love the aggressive, down the field approach, but I'd like to see a little more diversity within our offense next year as Luck grows into the position.

I agree with you about utilizing the TE sets. I want to do what NE does with Gronk and Hernandez. Now I realize that Allen and Flener aren't yet anywhere near as good as those two guys, but they looked fine as rookies, especially Allen. They have a lot of potential. Flener just needs to stay healthy and I think he'll be fine. He's 6'6. Dallas Clark was 6'3 for comparison.

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

I'm worried our offense will fall apart like the Steelers when Arians left them.

That's just a false statement. BTW, congrats to Bruce. One does need to separate his play calling issues from the quality of person he seems to be.

But back to this...

Here's one of the Week #9 previews, before we beat the Giants to move to 6-3:Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers offense have begun to stabilize over the past three weeks. In their past three games, the Steelers have averaged 24.6 points per game and moved the ball with ease. Because of injuries to Rashard Mendenhall and Isaac Redman, Jonathan Dwyer has got the starting nod at running back for the Steelers. Dwyer has run with purpose and power on his way to 229 rushing yards (6.7 YPC) over the past two weeks. It has been Dwyer along with key offensive line replacements Mike Adams and Ramon Foster, as well as fullback Will Johnson leading the way for the Steelers renewed rushing attack. The Steelers need to stay committed to the ground game and keep the ball away from the Giants and their potent offense. Todd Haley will continue to use a short, intermediate passing game to control the clock and keep Ben Roethlisberger clean. Through seven games, the Steelers have protected Roethlisberger better than at any time in his history with the team. At this point, Ben is only being sacked once every 20.6 drop backs. This number is improved from once every 14.2 drop backs last season and in Roethlisberger’s first eight seasons he has averaged being sacked once every 12.3 drop backs. The Steelers offensive line will face their toughest test yet in pass protection against the Giants star defensive lineman Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul and Osi Umenyoira. Roethlisberger must be efficient versus the Giants ball-hawking secondary and be smart with the football.

After the game, ESPN added the following blurbs about our offense:

Ben Roethlisberger entered Week 9 leading the league in QBR (97.3) and completions (51) on third down this season. Roethlisberger was stellar again Sunday, completing 8-of-9 to six different receivers, while keeping his passes short (2.3-yard average pass length) and on-target.

and...

Isaac Redman rushed for 147 yards on 26 carries against the Giants Sunday, all of which came between the tackles. His 90 yards after contact on those carries are the second-most in a game by any player this season and the 26 attempts between the tackles are the most by a Steelers running back since Week 12 of 2010 when Rashard Mendenhall had 30 such carries against the Bills.

So what happened in Week #10? Oh yeah, Big Ben took a hit that dislocated a rib over his heart, putting him both at a high medical risk and in a lot of pain. Under Leftwich and Batch, and then a clearly-not-100% Ben, our offense stunk and we lost five of our next six. Not sure you should blame that on a change in coordinators.

But I'm always happy to think of 8-8 seasons as being complete disasters. Its time for our front office to complete the current rebuild - the youth movement is well underway but its time for those new guys to start paying dividends.

Back to your team, obviously the selection of the right OC is important, but that Luck kid has been so well coached for so long that I wouldn't worry too much about a regression. He's a gamer, and that is way more important than the technical throwing stuff.

= = = = = = = = = =

Is Ray Horton staying in AZ? He and Bruce were close, and I can see Bruce trying to raid the Steelers coaching staff. Wouldn't be surprised if Kirby Wilson might be on his short list.

We may still be able to call them "Steelers West" even after firing Wiz, who couldn't do anything with a lousy roster and tough schedule.

As for the NFC West being weak well the Cardinals are also undefeated as well as the Niners right now.

True, but its pretty easy to see them potentially going 3-11 over the rest of the season, too. 5-11 ought be good for third in the division, maybe battling St. Louis for second in the division.

Now I completely underestimated Seattle's emergence, but even after they started 4-0 I still thought 5-11 looked about right for that roster and that schedule. Not really sure what Wiz was supposed to do differently?

Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
And life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in black elms,
Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

Now I completely underestimated Seattle's emergence, but even after they started 4-0 I still thought 5-11 looked about right for that roster and that schedule. Not really sure what Wiz was supposed to do differently?

Yeah, you can't win in this league if you have a poor O-Line and crappy quarterback play. Surely their GM was fired. They have a good defense and defense is certainly crucial, but SF and Seattle also have great defenses. The difference is that those two teams also have competent offensive play.

Whisenhunt was probably a victim of his own success. The bar was raised high when Warner caught second wind and led them to a hair away from winning the Super Bowl. But Warner inevitably got old and retired and there was no solid rebuilding plan.

I'm glad for Arians that he gets this well-deserved opportunity, but he sure has his work cut out for him. That is all of the sudden a brutal division. SF and Seattle are deadly, and even St. Louis went 7-8-1 this year. I think it will be a miracle if Arizona doesn't finish dead last again.